The latest figures from VeriSign show no signs of mobile messaging slowing, its growing exponentially.
Mobile messaging volumes continue to shatter records, according to
the latest quarterly index of mobile messaging statistics compiled by
the Messaging and Mobile Media Division of VeriSign,.
During the first quarter of 2009, VeriSign, which delivers 60
percent of the text and mobile message traffic in the U.S.
inter-carrier market(1), recorded a new high of nearly 84 billion
messages delivered throughout the quarter. In 2008, the company
successfully delivered more than 224 billion messages across its
combined mobile messaging platforms.
VeriSign also delivered more than 1.06 billion SMS and MMS messages
on Valentine's Day, which typically generates heavy message volume as
texters exchange love notes. It was the busiest day of the quarter and
the busiest Valentine's Day on record.
In Q1 2009, VeriSign's combined mobile messaging networks enabled an
average of approximately 932 million messages per day. This is an 18.5
percent increase from the previous quarter and a remarkable 96 percent
rise over Q1 2008. In total, VeriSign delivered 82.3 billion P2P
(peer-to-peer)(2) and over 1.6 billion A2P (application-to-peer)
messages in Q1 2009.
"Growth in mobile messaging volumes remains a consistent bright spot
in the mobile wireless environment," said Charles Landry, vice
president and general manager of products and innovation for VeriSign's
Messaging and Mobile Media division. "As consumers and enterprises
increasingly rely on mobile messaging to stay connected anytime,
anywhere, the mobile industry relies on VeriSign to ensure that those
messages reach their intended destination. We're making the investments
necessary to deliver the reach, reliability and scalability needed to
make 2009 another successful year for mobile messaging."
The VeriSign Inter-Carrier MMS and PictureMail platforms also
continue to experience rigorous growth in MMS traffic. Compared to the
first quarter of 2008, MMS and PictureMail volumes jumped 130 percent
and 84 percent respectively. In total, VeriSign delivered more than 1.1
billion MMS messages in Q1 2009.
The quarter also produced a healthy rise in mobile media/mobile
content messaging volumes through VeriSign's Mobile Delivery Gateway
(MDG). Driven in part by the addition of new mobile content providers
and an increase in mobile content provider market activity, VeriSign
reported a 27 percent increase in Premium SMS transactions year over
year. MDG also reached a monthly all-time high in retail sales, which
translated to a 35 percent rise from the previous quarter. With
industry leading reliability, the MDG platform has achieved its sixth
straight month of 100 percent availability.
With more enterprises turning to the mobile channel to better serve
customers, VeriSign® Mobile Enterprise Services (VMES) responded to the
growing interest in A2P enterprise applications as evident by an 88
percent year-over-year growth rate of messages delivered through its
network while financial services in particular drove a 63 percent
increase in messaging traffic from Q1 2008 to Q1 2009. Financial
institutions such as Western Union, U.S. Bank, Fifth Third Bank, and
Huntington National use VeriSign's mobile financial services to improve
their customers' overall experience through alerts and other value-add
mobile services. Recipient of the Frost & Sullivan 2009 Award for
North American Messaging-based Mobile Banking Solution of the Year,
VeriSign's Messaging and Mobile Media Division delivers mobile
messaging for six of the top 10 banks and three of the top five
financial institutions, and global leaders in payments and money
transfer services.
VeriSign's Messaging and Mobile Media Division delivers messages on
behalf of carriers and content providers around the world. VeriSign's
combined mobile messaging networks (P2P and A2P) connect to more than
700 carriers in over 200 countries and reach more than three billion
wireless subscribers. VeriSign offers one of the most robust and
reliable mobile messaging delivery engines across carrier, enterprise,
and media/entertainment networks, generating billions of dollars in
revenue for its customers. Together with RealNetworks, it powers
inter-carrier mobile messaging for eight of the top 10 wireless
carriers in North America and other major operators throughout the
world.
To view the full index, please visit
http://www.verisign.com/products-services/content-messaging/text-messaging-network/mmi/Q109.pdf.